Henry on target in Gunners win

Sunday 14 January 2007 00:01 BST

A goal of breathtaking quality goal from Thierry Henry saw Arsenal make light of Gilberto's early red card to earn a valuable 2-0 victory at Blackburn.

The Brazilian's 13th-minute dismissal might in the past have led to an Arsenal surrender, but this time the Gunners simply adjusted tactics and though it was not quite the 6-2 defeat they inflicted on Blackburn before Christmas - it was comprehensive enough - with Kolo Toure scoring Arsenal's first.

The win will not satisfy manager Arsene Wenger, however, as he will now be without Gilberto for Manchester United's visit next weekend, as well as two cup games.

The game began with double relief for Arsenal as first Lucas Neill's cross deflected off Justin Hoyte and landed on the roof of the net, before Matt Derbyshire was guilty of a glaring miss with his head from two yards.

Arsenal's task became that much harder when Gilberto was sent off for flicking a boot at Robbie Savage.

The Welsh midfielder pushed over the normally-placid Brazilian, who responded by aiming a kick and although contact looked slight, Savage tumbled theatrically to the floor and referee Rob Styles produced the red card.

But the Gunners' anger swiftly turned to joy as Toure scored. Henry spotted the defender's run and chipped in the free-kick for Toure to send a bullet header in off the post.

Derbyshire suffered a second nightmare moment when he reached Neill's cross to the far post, but somehow contrived to fluff this chance too.

Then, with 19 minutes left, Henry did his stuff.

Picking up the ball deep inside his own half, the Frenchman tore down the left flank, passed inside to Cesc Fabregas, who simply fed the ball back into Henry's path for him to send an exquisite shot arcing past Brad Friedel into the top right-hand corner.